How do I add versions to “Visual Studio Version Selector”, my list is empty

Question

I have VS 2008, 2010, and 2012 installed.

Initially, VS2013 Team Explorer was installed (Shell only). I uninstalled that.

Now, the Visual Studio Version Selector shows an empty list when executing a .sln file. Nothing shows.

How can I repopulate this list? Where is it stored? Registry? I tried to find entries, but since it doesn't actually have any items in the list, I couldn't search for a specific string.

Answer 1

I just encountered the same issue after installing Visual Studio 2015 parallel to an existing 2013 installation. In my case it turned out that that the problem was related to the solution file itself: It seems that the version selector does not like BOMs etc. (don't know how the solution got crippled, though). Make sure that the solution starts with

Microsoft Visual Studio Solution File, Format Version 12.00

and has no space, non-printable character etc. before that. After saving the file, the effect should be immediately visible with the correct icon returning.

Answer 2

I just ran into a similar problem where this dialog started popping up after a recent Windows Update (Win10) on 1/6/2018. That update caused all sorts of havoc in terms of broken file associations.

I tried searching for solutions and trying a few things but everything was overly complicated and messy.

My solution was to run the Visual Studio (2013) repair.

After the repair, I did receive a warning (from vs installer) about update 3 failing to update but I restarted the computer and sln files can now open without needing that version dialog. Everything seems to be compiling and running fine as well.

Answer 3

Just ran into this situation for VS2017 then I realized I have unfinished updates for Visual Studio when checking Visual Studio Installer.

The installer displayed a hint that I should restart my computer to complete the update and after doing so, the version selector works again.